The federal government has imposed a N10/litre excise duty on all non-alcoholic, carbonated, and sweetened beverages.
Excise duty is a type of tax levied on the manufacture, licensing, and sale of goods.
This was stated by Zainab Ahmed, Minister of Finance, Budget, and National Planning, on Wednesday during the public presentation of the 2022 Appropriation Act in Abuja.
According to her, the new policy is enshrined in the Finance Act, which President Muhammadu Buhari signed into law on December 31, 2021.
The minister of finance, Zainab Ahmed, announced in 2019 that the government may impose an excise duty on carbonated beverages.
The Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) comptroller-general, Hameed Ali, proposed collecting excise duty on soft drinks in 2020.
He made the same proposal in 2021 at an interactive session on the 2022-2024 medium-term expenditure framework (MTEF) hosted by the House of Representatives Finance Committee.
Aside from the new ‘Sugar Tax’ in Section 17, Ahmed stated that the 2021 Finance Act increased excise duties and revenue for the health sector.
The excise duty on soft drinks, according to the minister, will discourage excessive consumption of sugary beverages, which contributes to diabetes and obesity, among other things.
